Brothers for Peace
by xRaaRaa
Summary: Itachi and Naruto, brothers in all but blood. Away from the Hidden Leaf along with Mikoto from a young age. How will these boys achieve peace, will they do it through mutual understanding, or will conflicts forge them on a path of pain.
1. The Beginning of the End

Please note: For this story I am debating one of two paths for it to take as time progresses. I also do plan on having Naruto unlock the sharingan, HOWEVER, he WILL NOT be OP at eleven years old fighting kage ninja. He will have a progression along the same speed as Itachi, perhaps slightly faster, but anyways that's for later. I will also not be writing about Minato sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto, as we have seen that enough as is, and there really is nothing different to write about it.  
Description: Naruto and Itachi, brothers in all but blood. They hope to attain peace, and with Mikoto guiding they just might. However what happens when troubles strike the family, will the be lost on the path to peace, blinded by pain, or will they continue down the road of mutual understanding.

Anyways

**The Beginning of the End**

The night was cool and windy, with an odd sense of dread filling the air. To those untrained, it seemed like a simple night in the summer, however to the experienced shinobi, this feeling was often only felt before a battle or mass amounts of death took place. This type of foreboding had not been felt since the days leading to the Kyuubi attack, which left many jonin on edge. The root cause of this was a rather intelligent young man, Itachi Uchiha. In the past few weeks, Itachi had been severely upset with roughly half of his clan, as they were attempting a coup in the shadows like cowards. Itachi knew that even if the coup was successful, due to their methods they would always be looked down upon, therefore he took matters into his own hands.

As the graveyard shift at the police station was about to start, Itachi made his way through the district to begin his purge. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you ask, he heard what sounded like a child crying. As he approached the source he found a boy whom he immediately recognized as Naruto Uzumaki, or in secret, Naruto Namikaze. The source of this was a group of Uchiha loyal to Fugaku, who blamed the boy for being a constant reminder to the villagers about the possibility of an Uchiha controlling the beast that ended so many lives 4 years ago. The villagers knew what Naruto contained, and while they didn't allow him in stores and said bad things to him, they would never lay a hand on a child, regardless what they thought. The Uchiha however felt no such things, which led to this predicament. Noting the violence taking place, Itachi observed the situation before making an action, as the prodigy often did. He finally noted that the men were among the weaker of his clan, and could be disposed without bringing attention to himself. After quickly and efficiently removing the lives from those immoral, Itachi turned to talk to boy, when he noticed something odd about his eyes. Itachi quickly knew what he was looking into, a single tomoe sharingan.

At this moment Itachi knew that when he left the village a missing nin with his mother, Mikoto, that he would be taking Naruto with him, as he deserved a better life as the son of a hero, and an Uchiha.

Naruto finally realized that someone was actually helping him, and was rather confused as to why an Uchiha would ever save him.

"Why," was all the child could muster the courage to speak at the moment.

Itachi continued to look perplexed at the child in front of him.  
"I saved you because hurting a child is despicable, and we are family, that is what family does for each other." spoke the stoic man, unaware of the repercussions that statement would bring in the future.

Naruto could not fathom anymore words at this point, all he was thinking was that he actually had family and was no longer alone, sure he didn't know this man, but as a child he wanted to cling to the possibly that he would finally have someone. As coming to terms with these thoughts he started crying in joy, where he ran to Itachi and hugged him, he was then picked him up and he fell asleep in his arms, any questions that he wanted answered would be asked later. Itachi started to head to where his mother was waiting, to explain the situation at hand.

"Kaa-san, I had an unexpected interruption as I was about to begin my personal 'mission.'" Itachi spoke as briskly walking towards his mother, the small child in his arms.

"Is that who I think it is" Mikoto asked somewhat confused, she knew that the child was her best friend Kushina's son, and her god-son.

"Yes, I saved him from some Uchiha loyal to father, and when I finally got a chance to look at the boy I noticed something about his eyes" Itachi spoke disdainfully at the first part, and quickly turned to one of curiosity, hoping his mother would have answers to what he was about to reveal. "He has the sharingan, I couldn't believe it at first, but there it was, a single tomoe in each eye, how is it possible he has these eyes kaa-san, especially at so young" Finally dropping his mask a bit to the only person he felt comfortable around, and speaking with some emotion.

"Well I always suspected that Minato was hiding more behind his brilliance, but I would hypothesize that one of Minato's parents were an Uchiha, as he was an orphan and likely would know nothing of them. As for awakening them at so young, it really is not so surprising considering the circumstance you found him" Mikoto spoke while thinking of the possibilities which of the Uchiha could be related to young Naruto and the potential he carries.

"That is a good theory, anyways, I want to take the boy with us, he is family after all, and a family friend if anything. It would also do him a load of good to leave this village, as it will only hold him back due to fear" said the young man worried about the possibilities of how the little boy could have his shinobi career sabotaged from within.

"I would agree, but it will only paint a larger target on our backs if anyone were to find out it was us who took him, are you prepared for those consequences Itachi, he will be both our responsibility" spoke the attractive women sagely.

"I am prepared, however I have some business to finish, meet me at border of Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) in one day, I will be there" Itachi spoke as he disappeared into the night, he had matters to attend to after all.

Mikoto quickly took off into the night towards Nami no Kuni, worried about her son's safety.

Itachi overlooked the police force, plotting how he would execute these men and get away without harm. This would be easy if a normal mission against run of the mill shinobi without dojutsu, however the Sharingan is an impressive tool, which would make spotting Itachi easier. Luckily, Itachi was much more cunning and knowledgeable about the Sharingan, and thus was able to effectively kill those he once considered friends, feeling somewhat guilty about some of the deaths, he quickly justified it as it had to be done for the clan, and escaped into the night sky to meet his mother. Wondering what would come of these events.

The following morning the citizens of Konoha were shocked, to find that a member of the Uchiha clan murdered roughly half of his own people, including his own father and clan head was quite a hard pill to swallow for the civilians. However the person who took this news the hardest would be the Sandaime, not only was half the most powerful clan gone in Konoha, but the Jinchuriki and son of his former friend, was nowhere to be found. This left too much room for speculation, and not enough evidence for any answers, which troubled the old man, who was puffing his pipe in deep thought.

"ANBU" spoke the elderly kage with authority and volume.  
"I need you to track down Naruto Uzumaki, find him and bring him to me. You should search the surrounding villages and even consider the country of his possible location, dismissed." Unknown to the hokage, the child he was looking for was already on the border of the country, and would soon be outside his search pattern, slipping through his fingers.

END Chapter

Itachi is a "momma's boy" and will only drop his stoic facade around his mother, and eventually his surrogate brother.

Mikoto left with her son as he was the only connection she had to the world. She never liked Fugaku, and only married him to make sure any children she did have would be taken care of.

Sasuke will NOT exist in this story, at all.

Minato's Uchiha parent will be unknown forever, it will not be Madara or some other super powerful shinobi.

Naruto's Sharingan abilities will roughly be that of Itachi, and he will not be godlike because his sharingan, I plan on trying to make this as realistic as possible, however capping the sharingan in power compared to canon. Having a flying Susanoo is a bit much, especially when you are a jinchuriki.

This is my first ever story, let alone fanfic, so please bear with me and give constructive feedback. Thank You :D


	2. New Bonds

New Bonds

The sun was just rising over the horizon when Mikoto finally made it to the border of Nami no Kuni. She knew that when the sleeping passenger she was carrying would finally awake, she would have to explain a few things and answer quite a few questions. She gazed upon the sunrise, pondering how these last twenty-four hours would affect not only her entire life, but the lives of many people. Although raising a child again would be hard in an "on the run" environment, she knew that she would be extremely happy doing such. Despite always wanting a second child, she knew that her 'husband' would try to sway her child just like he tried Itachi, due to the fact he could not manipulate Itachi, she feared what would happen to a child, especially if anything like Fugaku. As if it was fate, as she was finishing up her thoughts the young child began to stir.

"Where am I?" asked the dazed child

"We are barely in Nami no Kuni, waiting for Itachi" answered Mikoto

"What is going to happen now, and what did Itachi mean we are family" asked Naruto, slightly worried about the answer, he did not want to feel like he was abandoned. This would undoubtedly crush the child.

"Well you see, I was your mother's best friend, and because of that I was chosen to be your godmother, but not only that, you are part Uchiha, as you have the sharingan. So in a way we are family" responded Mikoto, she did not know how to explain the complexity of the given situation to a child who's learning was not where it should be.

"Why did you wait so long" carefully asked Naruto, again afraid of the answer he could receive, the thought of having family was quite a new thought, but due to how he grew up he tried to not be overly hopeful.

"I wasn't allowed, I was able to sneak in groceries, but other than that the Uchiha clan head didn't want any attachments to you, nor did the Hokage want clans watching you" responded as if on instinct, however as those words slipt she realized she would have more questions to answer.

"Why did hokage-jiji not want clans watching me, does he see me the same as some of the villagers" worryingly asked Naruto.

"No nothing like that, there is a reason that makes sense, but you are still a little young for me to answer that" Mikoto craftingly responded, she knew that if the he knew he was the Kyubi container, he could easily hate himself or resent the villagers. Despite not liking what Konoha has become, she would never wish to see it in peril.

"Oh ok, you said you knew my parents, who were they?" Naruto questioned with excitement

"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, she was a beautiful women with long red hair and a slightly round face. She used to be called tomato head as a child because of it, until she began beating the boys up who made fun of her. Despite her temper, she was as loyal and loving as they came, she was nothing short of excited and happy when she found out she was going to be a mother, however life had other plans… Your father was a smart and powerful man, he was quite most of the time, except when with your mother. Despite how powerful he was, he never let arrogance blind him, nor did he present himself as superior to others, everyone was equal in his eyes. I will not tell you who he was yet, in our situation if someone were to hear any conversations about him it would make our survival much more difficult. I can say both your parents would want you to become a smart, powerful, and loving shinobi." Mikoto responded with some nostalgia, it had been a long time since she described Kushina in such a way.

"Thank you, uh what is your name" Naruto responded sheepishly, with all the converse he never asked her name

"It's Mikoto" she responded with a quiet laugh, knowing he had more important things to ask at the time

"Naruto, now that you will be traveling with Itachi and I, we are going to have a lot to teach you, it will be easy at first but eventually when we get into shinobi training, that is if you wish, it will be extremely hard, will you be ok with this" she asked, she wanted so very badly to help teach a child basic things, as well as train them in shinobi arts.

"Yes, but i'm not good at reading or writing, but I want to be a strong shinobi to make my parents proud" responded Naruto, somewhat downcast at first.

"I know, I will help you don't you worry" Mikoto said rather happily

As they were finalizing the conversation, Mikoto sensed a person approaching rather rapidly, however she recognized the chakra and was immediately at ease. Relief washed over her knowing that her son was alive, she hated leaving him behind but knew that she needed to in the situation. Shortly after sensing him Itachi arrived but Mikoto quickly noticed he had a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong Sochi" Mikoto asked with concern.

"The mission was a success, however the Sandaime noticed that 'he' was missing and dispatched ANBU to search for him, I knew he was going to find out, but to find out so quickly and dispatch teams makes things much harder for us. We are going to need to create more distance between us, while remaining away from shinobi villages for the time being. Also the mission proved harder than I thought, the things I did to people I once considered friends is not something I want to see or do again." Responded Itachi with a sullen tone and deep frown. Despite how he acted around others, his mother was one person he would open to, as she understood what it meant to be a shinobi and cared for him as a mother should.

"That does create problems for us, however I suspected it would not be long, we should consider heading deeper into wave, even going as far to venture to Uzu as it hasn't been used in a long time. As for what you did, it was necessary, if you didn't do it, they would have died without any honor and downcast the Uchiha name, you stopped that." Mikoto responded, for the first time she did not know entirely how to make the situation better, killing a friend was something she had not experienced, but she knew that just being there would help, no matter how little it would be.

"There is something else kaa-san" Itachi responded, activating his sharingan. Quickly the three tomoe pattern spun into a shuriken. Mikoto immediately recognized what Itachi possessed and gasped. She had not actually gazed into those eyes before.

"Is that the"

"Mangekyō Sharingan" Itachi quickly cut her off

"You need to be careful with those eyes Itachi, they will blind you the more you use them" Mikoto voiced with nothing but concern and worry, not only could they not afford to be burdened like that, she would hate to see her son go through such pains.

Forgotten to them for the time, Naruto was silently observing what was happening, what was a sharingan? A mangekyō? What did Itachi do and why did he hurt his friends? These were all questions running through his mind, and he decided to voice them.

"What is a sharingan, and why did he hurt his friends" Naruto asked pointing to Itachi, if he hurt his friends, would he hurt him? This was his biggest concern at the moment.

As if recognizing his concerts, Mikoto responded, "Despite them being friends Naruto, they were going to hurt a lot of people, it was the only way to save lives. As for the sharingan, it is the bloodline of the Uchiha clan" to elaborate she activated hers to show him "You also have these eyes, which is how we know we are somewhat family" Responded Mikoto trying to lighten the mood.

Naruto then remembered how she told him he had the sharingan, but he forgot due to other questions at the time.

"Now Naruto, this is my son Itachi, you can trust him. He is the one who saved you last night"

"Hello Naruto, I will try to be like a big brother and teach you to be a good man, if you would like" Itachi asked his new surrogate brother, somewhat anticipating they would be a good family.

Not used to people offering up help, let alone two different people shortly after another, he could only carefully nod.

"Itachi we most move if we want to not be found so soon, we also need to start teaching him reading and writing, if we want to move onto shinobi arts, it is important." Stated Mikoto, packing up anything she had taken out since she arrived. She certainly did not want to have to fight Konoha ANBU at the moment. It had been a long stressful night for her, let alone her son. Any confrontation now would only make matters worse. Itachi quickly nodded and prepared himself for movement. Mikoto picked up Naruto and they quickly set off deeper into Nami no Kuni to find a place to sleep and gather supplies.

Konoha

If the Sandaime wasn't worried before, he most certainly was now. Itachi killed half his clan, the Jinchuriki was missing, as was Mikoto. He only theorized that Naruto was with both missing Uchiha, he could not prove it, nor could he prove that Mikoto was at all involved in the massacre. This left him troubled, if word got out they had their Jinchuuriki missing, especially if he was with the clan killer, it would make Konoha look weak, and they could not afford that right now.

"ANBU, place Itachi Uchiha as an S rank missing nin, wanted dead or alive for one million ryo. Also mention his strengths and weaknesses, dismissed"

The Sandaime could feel that his troubles about the matter were far from over, for now though he had other things to attend to.

-End Chapter-

Notes: Although nothing really but dialogue in this chapter, I wanted to start the relationships between Naruto, Mikoto, and Itachi.

The POV from the Sandaime is to show the reader what the characters do not know, for instance being an S rank missing nin. These will stop more than likely next chapter. I am also not entirely sure if I want the family to go to uzu to learn, or travel around for a while and go to Uzu for shinobi training. Now I am not using Uzu simply because Naruto is an uzumaki, but rather because the island is uninhabited, and thus shields them from prying eyes that way.

As always, this is my first time writing a story, let alone a fanfiction, so please leave some feedback. Thank You :D


	3. Family

Family

It was roughly early afternoon when they finally arrived to a hotel. At this point Itachi and Mikoto were exhausted from all the traveling throughout the night into the morning without rest. While not physically tired, Naruto was mentally exhausted from what was revealed to him, and thus needed rest as well. Unknown to Naruto, when Mikoto would start his teaching, this was to ensure to set him up as fast as possible to be a shinobi. Life with a missing nin is hard, especially as a child. They each got into their respective beds and two of the party blissfully fell asleep. However Naruto was deep in his thoughts. If he were to be told that he would be leaving what he had known as his 'home' his entire life, the venture with his family, he would most certainly think they were lying, but here he was, with his new family. While he was slightly nervous around Itachi, solely because of how he was able to kill his friends despite the reasons, he felt at peace with Mikoto. Unknown to him, it was simply because she has a motherly atmosphere around her that comforts Naruto, especially since he had never really experienced that before. Collecting his thoughts, Naruto fell asleep, however this night would prove rather restless for the young Jinchuriki.

He could hear loud howling, mixed with a menacing feeling in the air. Once the howling somewhat died down for a moment, he could hear low cries and screams, followed by the sound of an inferno blazing near him. The smell of soot and burnt flesh blocking any other scents in the air. When what he was hearing came into view, he could see what was causing it. He noticed a raging beast, no a fox, with multiple tails raging. The most noticeable thing was the destruction around him, he could see buildings burning and bodies burnt to crisps or impaled by debris. He had never had this nightmare before, he had never felt more afraid in his life. Not realizing he was dreaming of course, made him wonder how could this be. It looked like Konoha. It mattered not however as another inferno came racing towards him, where he quickly ran away and barely made it out with minor burns. His restless night seemed to only be beginning.

Outside his dream world, he was tossing and turning, it seemed as if he was silienting whimpering as well, this seemed to go on for about ten minutes before it was noticed however. Noticing Naruto in this state, motherly instincts kicking in, Mikoto swiftly picked up the child and rocked him slightly hoping to make whatever was causing his state to settle. After a few moments, she lucked out, and his sleep became stable. They both fell asleep, to wake in the morning.

Unknown to the duo, this state was caused by the Kyuubi, since Naruto awakened his sharingan. The unquenched hatred towards those eyes blinded him and his container felt the repercussions. This was an unforeseen circumstance towards his rage, only time will tell if this type of dream will occur again.

The sun was glistening through the windows, lighting up the hotel room in the early morning. This of course caused Naruto to stir, however he felt different then he did when he feel asleep. He then noticed the calming presence he was in and realized he was not in his bed. Slightly worried, he jumped out of bed before realizing he was with Mikoto. Slowly beginning to remember his dream, he realized he must've gone to her afraid, not knowing what actually happened. His jumping out of bed woke up Mikoto, as well as Itachi, both being trained shinobi, only to realize it was only Naruto. Realizing this Naruto was embarrassed.

"Sorry, it was an accident" Naruto said sheepishly

"It's alright, we can get started on your teachings earlier" responded Itachi. He was already awake but merely enjoying the comforting sunlight entering the room.

"Itachi is right" Mikoto said groggily "What had you troubled last night Naruto" she followed up remembering the events

"Uh" Was all Naruto could say, there was a pregnant pause before he felt comfortable continuing.

"There was this massive fox attacking a village, there was lots of broken buildings and dead people, it was scary." Naruto stated somewhat downcast with what he recalled.

He did not have the vocabulary to describe everything he saw, but this just mentioning the fox was enough for both Itachi and Mikoto to draw conclusions. They both had the same thing running through their minds. "Why would the fox be messing with his dreams" was what they were currently in deep thought about. They both drew the conclusion they would find out eventually.

"Well don't worry about it Naruto, we will be here for you" replied Itachi and Mikoto, they were on the same mindset of not wanting Naruto to dwell on the dream to much.

"Naruto why don't you sit down and I will start teaching you in a minute" Mikoto asked of Naruto, she needed a second opinion of Itachi.

"Do you think we should unlock his chakra correctly before we teach him, doing so would allow him to use his sharingan to learn, which would greatly speed the process up of him reading and perhaps writing. As using the sharingan is near equivalent of a photographic memory." Mikoto directed her thoughts towards Itachi.

"I do think it would be advantageous, however should we do that, we would need to start drilling into his head that the sharingan is a mere tool so he is not clouded with judgment." Itachi responded calmly towards his mother, already agreeing with what the possibility of learning that way would do. "Anyways, I'm going to run to town and get supplies, such as food, water, and some shinobi gear." Itachi said as he was walking out the door, Mikoto simply responded with a nod and went to talk to Naruto.

"Naruto, before we start you on your teaching, I want to unlock your chakra. This will allow you to use your sharingan much easier, ultimately letting you memorize things faster. However I want you to remember that the sharingan is a mere tool, nothing more, ok." Mikoto told Naruto, wondering what his response would be.

He could barely keep the excitement off his face, he was going to unlock his chakra and learn faster. He could barely fathom what was happening. Up until today, he was always going to have to wait until the academy to learn those things, he was certainly excited for what was about to happen.

"Miko, how am I going to unlock my chakra" he questioned towards Mikoto.

"I want you to copy the position I'm sitting in" Mikoto stated and she got into the lotus position. Naruto quickly copied the position, in which she fixed any mistakes he had. "Now I want to focus within, try to find a warm feeling inside your tummy, once you do just pull on it, and keep pulling on it" she answered, trying to keep it simple for the child's sake.

Naruto was completely focused on completely his task, looking for something warm and happy inside him. After a few moments, he started to get frustrated and opened his eyes, frustration clearly present.

"Listen Naruto, most people can take over a day to do this, it even took Itachi a few tries and he is extremely gifted. Don't give up, I am sure you can do it." Mikoto advised

Listening to her advice he tried to unlock his chakra again. However even after calming down he still could not do it after roughly an hour of trying. He was trying to give up when he remembered something he was told yesterday. He recalled how his parents would want him to be a good shinobi, coupled with the fact that his new family wanted him to be as well, he would not give up. With a small flare of determination, he was able to find his chakra and pull. He kept pulling on the sensation until he could no longer.

Mikoto was quick to observe the copious amounts of chakra the boy had, however quickly noted he was a jinchuriki and that made sense. She then realized he wasn't going to stop pulling chakra until he couldn't and quickly get him to stop. She didn't need him passing out from lack of chakra so soon.

"Enough Naruto, now that you have successfully unlocked your chakra, can you feel it in your body" questioned Mikoto, hoping that she wouldn't need to explain how to feel it now.

"Yes, I can feel it everywhere, it is amazing" Naruto claimed with excitement.

"Now I want you to try to move the chakra towards your eyes" she ordered

Naruto did as he was asked, the first attempt he did not succeed, he was able to move his chakra but not accurately. He tried again and this time he was able to move the chaka to his eyes, immediately noticing the difference. He was rather astonished by the difference in what he saw. While he didn't know what he was looking at, he was intrigued by the blue coloring given off from Mikoto.

"Miko what is the blue stuff around you" Naruto asked Mikoto, his voice full of curiosity.

"That is chakra, every living thing has it" she responded scholarly. "Now Naruto, these eyes of yours are nothing more than tools, they will help you learn and eventually help you in combat, however as I said, they are nothing more than tools. You should not rely on them. Anyways, those eyes are good for learning and memorizing information, now that you can activate them, we will begin teaching. We will start by going through words and phrases, when Itachi returns we will eat and go into history. After dinner we will review. Does that sound good to you Naruto." Mikoto asked, she knew that this was going to be a lot of effort for him, but she also knew that it was for what's best, it will difficult to get a lot of time while traveling between regions, so they needed to learn whenever they could.

Naruto only nodded, which began his lessons. The rest of the morning was uneventful, with Naruto learning various kanji and how to string them together. It was a difficult task, especially with his sharingan activated non stop. He was feeling quite tired by the time Itachi returned.

"How is the learning going" Itachi directed towards Naruto as he returned with food among other things.

"It's going good, but I am rather hungry" Naruto asked, sharingan still ablaze.

"That's good, however I think you can deactivate your sharingan for now, you don't want to continue to tire yourself out." Itachi explained to Naruto, he knew that having your sharingan active all the time can be extremely tiring, especially when you are using more than enough chakra to keep your eyes activated.

"So what have you learned so far" he asked, curious to if the morning was eventful or not.

Naruto then proceeded to explain how he had unlocked his charkha, and learned multiple kanji and how to string sentences together. He had advanced rather quickly, even with the sharingan. This had shown both Mikoto and Itachi that if he was given the proper environment, Naruto would be quite the prodigy. After explaining how his morning went, the family began to eat some onigiri and once they were finished, pochi. Mikoto noted Itachi's weird craving of pochi, but said nothing.

"Naruto, what would you like to eat for dinner" Mikoto asked her surrogate son. The response was an instantaneous uproar of "ramen!" which left the other occupants in the room silent for a moment. They both remembered Kushina's lust for the noodle meal, and only feared those who had to appease the appetite of the ramen beasts.

The night continued as Mikoto said it would, with Itachi stepping in as well to teach the young raven haired boy. He learned about the warring clan states, and how eventually Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju both shook hands and eventually formed what was Konohagakure no Sato. This is how their night finished, however there would be much other history to cover, such as the shinobi wars and how each elemental nation came to be, and what they view as important. This would seem rather redundant for now, but learning the histories of each nation would be extremely important for the future.

The the next two weeks went without much of a hiccup, each morning started with learning the alphabet while the afternoon was dedicated to history, however after the first week some shinobi tactics were discreetly thrown into the mix. In this time, Itachi had stepped up quite a bit, he loved teaching history to his brother, and was in large responsible for the shinobi tactics. Itachi always made a point on how many shinobi want to learn jutsu that are 'eye candy' but that is not what is needed for a shinobi.

The morning was relatively quiet for the most part. Itachi had just left to go to an old Uchiha hideout to claim some scrolls that would prove useful in the future. He figured since the were moving away from Hi no Kuni it would be better to grab those things now than in the future. Since Itachi was away, Mikoto decided she would take Naruto into town to get some lunch. It was a nice afternoon, it wasn't to hot, but the sun was shining making things rather comfortable. They finally arrived at the ramen stand, both browsing the menu.

"What are you going to get Naruto-kun" Mikoto questioned her surrogate son.

"Miso ramen!" he hastily responded, it was clear he had already known what he wanted before they even sat down.

"So Naruto, what do you think of all the teachings so far, I know it has been a lot for you to undergo" she asked, wondering what his response would be.

"Although it has been hard learning so many things, It's nice to be able to learn like this, especially on how all the shinobi villages are connected and how they view each other. Most of history is sad though" Naruto responded, while he did enjoy history, he had to admit that a large part of it was rather depressing, with nothing but bloodshed. He favorite part about history would be the founding of the shinobi villages, where different people were able to band together to attempt to stop fighting.

As they finished eating, Mikoto paid for the food and they started to return to the hotel. The sun was starting to set when Mikoto noticed that something was wrong. Had it not been for her shinobi instincts, she would not have been able to dodge the kunai that was headed straight towards her.

"Ah, so the lady does have some training after all" a bandit responded coming out of the trees, followed by two of his comrades.

"That she does., but she could never take on three of us, I wonder what kind of things she could do once we capture her, she is quite the looker" another one responded, however this man was not a bandit, but a missing nin. Based on his headband, he was from Kirigakure. This would make sense as the land of waves was closest to that elemental nation aside Konohagakure.

Hearing this Mikoto quickly activated her sharingan and prepared for combat. She then looked over at Naruto "Stay behind me, and do not get in the way. Naruto simply complied he was not one to argue given the situation.

Mikoto then didn't give any time for the trio of enemies to asses the situation. She quickly went through a series of hand signs **Fire Style : Fireball Jutsu, **quickly launching a large fireball towards the assailants. Unfortunately, none of them were incapacitated, with only one receiving minor burns. Quickly jumping away from their previous positions, one of the bandits then cried out **Water Style : Water Bullet Jutsu ** launching a medium sized water ball towards Mikoto. She immediately realized she couldn't dodge with Naruto behind her. In her predicament she cried out **Earth Style : Earth Wall **, a rock wall emerged from the ground just in time to shield her and Naruto from any injury. Quickly flipping through hand seals, she tried to catch one of the bandits out **Fire Style : Phoenix Flower Jutsu**, seven fireballs quickly came out of her mouth, she was able to catch one bandit with her fireball, effectively killing him. The bandits realizing that they were losing, they needed to change their tactics. Mikoto, keeping on the defensive, was awaiting what was to come next. **Water Style : Hidden Mist Jutsu **the missing nin from Kiri called out. He was trying to seperate Mikoto and the child to force her into cooperating, a dirty tactic, but they were shinobi after all. Mikoto quickly realized what they were doing, but it was to late, the missing nin was able to grab her surrogate son, however she noticed the second bandit behind her, quickly readying a kunai, she threw it at him. He was not prepared and caught off guard. This error would cost him his life, the kunai quickly imbedded into his chest and he hit the ground with a loud thud.

The missing-nin knew that he was alone now, but it mattered not, he had the child. He could easily force the women to do what he wants now. Unfortunately he forgot the one rule in his situation. A women defending her child is something one does not want to willingly fight, especially when she is stronger than you. Mikoto kept her cool, unfortunately Naruto was not, he was quiet however she could see the despair and helplessness in his eyes. She hated seeing him like that and quickly flew through some hand signs **Genjutsu : Bringer of Darkness**, this technique took a lot out of her, so she wasted to time. Once the genjutsu was active she rushed the missing nin and ended his life, however not before getting some minor cuts from the blindly swinging kunai of the missing nin. Once the fight was over she quickly picked up Naruto making sure he was okay. The second she picked up him he started crying and hugged her.

"Kaa-san" was all he was able to say through his sobs. He didn't even realize what he said, but it would have lasting effects. "I'm sorry" was the next thing he said. Mikoto was definitely caught off guard at this point, not only did he call her kaa-san, but he was also apologizing.

"Sochi it's okay, you're safe" she didn't know what came over her, but it sounded right at the moment "Why are you sorry, there is nothing you could have done"

WIth his sobs quieting, he was able to respond. " I was useless, I couldn't help you and make things harder for you" he said still somewhat distraught from what happened. "If I was stronger I wouldn't be a burden to you" he added, in a sullen tone. He hated feeling helpless, especially to someone he holds dear.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, you are still young, you can't expect to fight shinobi, especially since you aren't even trained in the shinobi arts." Mikoto responded, trying to lighten his spirits.

"Then please, teach me to be a shinobi, I never want to be a burden to you or Itachi-Nii-chan." Naruto responded with fierce determination. If you could say anything about his personality, his loyalty to family was uncanny.

"We will start when Itachi returns, however It will be difficult, more than likely one of the hardest things you will ever do, are you sure you want to be a shinobi"

Naruto quickly nodded, however after his sobbing session he fell asleep still clutching his surrogate mother. She of course smiled at the boy, despite the situation, something great had come from it, they had officially started seeing other as family. This is something that made her fill with happiness. This was something she could not wait for Itachi's return.

After destroying the bodies, she returned to the hotel and put Naruto in bed and sent a crow summon to deliver a message to Itachi, explaining what happened and that he should hurry. With the message sent, she blissfully fell asleep.

It was the middle of the night when Itachi returned. When he received his mother's message he knew she was fine, but he couldn't help it. He needed to go back to her as soon as he could, moving as fast as he could he got the scrolls from the Uchiha hideout and made his way back home as fast as he could. Walking into the hotel, his presence had woken Mikoto. She didn't mind, she wanted to tell him things and now was as good of time as any. She gestured for him to sit down when Itachi finally decided to break the silence.

"Are you okay kaa-san, how is Naruto taking it, is he alright" Itachi fired off rapidly, he was worried about the two.

"Yes Itachi-kun we are fine, I would even say better than fine, despite what happened I feel as if something great." she blissfully stated, however she felt that Itachi needed some elaborating and continued "After what happened, Naruto was worried that he was a burden, and wanted to train as a shinobi so that his kaa-san and nii-chat wouldn't be burdened trying to always protect him" she finished happily.

If Itachi was expecting anything, that was surely not it. He could only respond with a nod and a bright smile, knowing that his surrogate brother finally viewed him as family. With that they both said their good nights and went to bed. Tomorrow they would move on to Ocha no Kuni. (Land of Tea)

-END Chapter-

Notes:

So that was my first ever fight scene, I know it wasn't that expanded but I felt that the fight wasn't really the focal point, but what the fight resulted in. Any feedback on how to improve future fights if appreciated,

As for the timeskip, I generally don't like time skips, however for the story to progress I feel some are required, for instance he is still a small child at this point. While it is fulfilling to write his entire childhood, it would prove repetitive, in my opinion, to continue with him learning the shinobi ways. That being said, you will see him training and learning the shinobi arts, just not every minute detail.

As for honorifics, if you guys want me to keep using honorifics let me know. I am not perfect with them, so keep that in mind. With that being said I do think that honorifics do point characters in better lights that without, but what do you guys think. Thanks :D


	4. Training Begins

Training Begins

It was early morning, the sun had barely risen over the horizon when our trio awoke. Naruto noticed that Itachi and Mikoto were packing up their things, which confused Naruto. He knew that they needed to move around but he heard nothing about it.

"Where are we going" Naruto asked Itachi and Mikoto, hoping that they would inform him.

"Due to what happened last night we need to move, we are heading towards The Land of Tea." Mikoto responded to her surrogate son.

"We will also be starting your shinobi training Naruto-kun" Itachi stated looking towards his little brother. He wanted to gauge his reaction to see what he thought about it without words. He noticed when he mentioned shinobi training he seemed to depress a bit, but was immediately followed by a smirk. 'He must not have gotten over what happened last night' he thought to himself.

"Naruto, what happened last night happens all the time in the shinobi world, this is why it is my goal to achieve peace, and ultimately change the shinobi way." Itachi claimed with full confidence in himself, fully believing he would be capable of such a task.

"Then I will join you nii-chan, I will help you change the shinobi way" Naruto responded with determination. However our hero in the making did not know what that really meant, or what it would cost. All he knew was that he didn't want to see his friends hurt, nor did he want to see other people lose their loved ones. Itachi simply smiled at his response, he believed the two of them could do anything, however it would be much later.

"Well then, prepare yourself sochi, it is going to be extremely tiring" Mikoto stated in a motherly fashion. To this Naruto only gulped, if his mother was warning him in such a way he knew that it was going to be difficult, but very worth it.

The trio had finished packing up their gear and headed towards The Land of Tea. Naruto was wondering when he was going to start his shinobi training. However Itachi and Mikoto both wanted to create some distance from the town they were just in. They had no idea if those dead shinobi were apart of a larger group, and while they felt confident they could handle any threat from them, they would rather not endanger Naruto.

The sun was positioned high in the sky, roughly noon, when they decided to stop and train the youngest member of the group.

"Alright, let us begin your training Naruto-kun. We are going to start with your chakra control and physical conditioning." Itachi informed Naruto, he knew that with his large quantity of chakra, it would prove difficult learning difficult jutsu, especially wind and fire jutsu due to their destructive nature. For instance if he tried the fireball jutsu with to much chakra, he could easily burn his lungs, or for wind chakra he could explode arteries and organs with extreme pressure.

"Well that am I going to do then for chakra control" questioned Naruto with some excitement in his voice.

"I want you to watch me, without your sharingan, and tell me what you think im doing" Mikoto stated as she walked over to a tree and began climbing with chakra. She wanted to train her son without the sharingan. This is because if he learned without it, he would even further be grateful for the tool at his disposal, and ultimately become a better shinobi because of it.

"I think you're using chakra but I don't know how" responded our blond shinobi in training. He didn't like not having answers that he knew were correct but knew that he would be told anyways.

"That's correct, I am using chakra" she then paused a moment to let Naruto think over how she might be using her chakra before continuing "You move the chakra towards the bottom of your feet and allow it to connect with what's around you, when you climb a tree the amount of chakra you need stays the same. To much chakra and you will blow a chunk in the tree, however to little chakra and you will simply fall off as if nothing was holding you. This will take some practice but I believe you can do it." Mikoto detailed to her son, once he completed this exercise she wanted to move on to getting him in shape. She knew that she couldn't use any type of weights or his growth would be stunted, so she decided on three basic exercises to help for now. WIth her explanation Naruto set off to start and finish this task.

Once Naruto was set up to begin tree climbing, a menial task, Itachi needed to discuss some things with his mother about missions to get money. While he would do what he needed for his family, he would not like some things.

"Kaa-san" Itachi directed towards his mother, notioning he wanted to talk to her without Naruto hearing. Itachi and his mother created some distance from Naruto before Itachi decided to continue with his thoughts. "I need to take on missions to get money, it will make things easier for us in the long run. However I would like some advice. While I do not mind killing and such to those who deserve it, a lot of those with money want assassinations of people who threaten their wealth, even if they are innocent. Should I simply just kill the innocent for the money, or decline the mission." Itachi asked, he was greatly conflicted by this, how could he preach a path to peace if he slaughtered innocents for money. He accepted sacrifice but this was different. This was murder in cold blood for some ryo, and that was something that didn't sell well with him yet.

MIkoto noticed his conflicted state, and wanted to at least try to settle any doubts her eldest son may have. "I would recommend before accepting a mission looking into what the target is like. If he has some shady history It would be doing the world a favor to rid of those kinds of people, however if they are completely innocent you could either simply ignore the mission, or double cross the person who set you up for the mission. While it's not completely honorable, if the person ordering the assasination is a criminal with deep roots, it may not be a bad thing to get rid of them. That is at least what I would do" Mikoto voiced her thoughts to Itachi, she didn't want to entirely answer the question for him, as his decision would ultimately affect how he would view the world, but she could only hope he would make the right ones.

"Thank you" was the only thing Itachi said, he knew what he was going to do with missions now. "I am going to look for some missions, I plan to be back this evening, if I am not however continue traveling to The Land of Tea." was all Itachi said before taking off to the nearest town hoping to get some money.

Once Itachi had vanished from sensing range, Mikoto returned to Naruto to observe his progress. She noticed he was struggling and decided to give him some pointers. She had a feeling that he would either get this chakra control exercise tonight or early tomorrow morning. While Naruto was training she set up a camp to use her time wisely. She then decided that if she were to train a shinobi, she would need to keep up with her own training. While she was a jonin before she had Itachi, and a high A ranked ninja, she had only become rusty since then. With that she started her own regiment. She felt she needed to get her strength and endurance up, followed by touching up some chakra control and the basics. She knew that mastering the basics would prove more important than knowing all the powerful jutsu. She looked up into the sky and sighed, it was going to be a long day.

Itachi arrived it what appeared to be a large town in Wave Country, the people appeared to be happy and enjoying their lives, oblivious to the shinobi world. It was calming for Itachi to see this, knowing that this village knew peace. Noting his surroundings he made his way around town, looking for any signs that someone needed something done. He made his way in what appeared to be a darker part of town, the civilians were much quieter here. He made his way over to a lone woman walking heading in what appeared to be back to the busier parts of town when he made his way over to her.

"Excuse me miss" Itachi said, getting her attention. "Why is this part of town so quiet compared to everywhere else" Itachi asked the stranger in front of him.

"There are some bad people in this part of town, it is best to just avoid it" she advised the boy in front of her. She was simply another civilian who did not think that an eleven year old boy could be a trained killer.

"Why doesn't anybody do anything about them, surely they can't be more than thugs" Itachi responded, he was trying to figure out what stopped these people from just rooting out the thugs.

"We don't have anyone to do it, and even if we could, they would simply just retaliate. They hardly do anything aside from thefft" the woman cautiously said to Itachi.

"Well, thank you for your time miss, I have a feeling you won't have to worry about them for much longer" Itachi cryptically stated as he began to walk away.

Itachi knew that he was going to kill these men. He was thinking about how he was going to do it. He decided that he needed to scope the place out, and would make his move under the cover of darkness. Stealthily making his way around the block, he noted a building which had a different feel compared to the rest of the area. Itachi figured that this building was the one which housed the criminals. That being said he noted it was a two story building with one window on each side, with the front comprised of a large doorway. Taking note of all the possible exits and entrances, Itachi decided to summon a crow and have it scope the inside of the building. This would eliminate the risk to expose himself early, while also learning what is inside of the building. When the crow returned, Itachi used his sharingan to essentially see what the crow had seen. What he saw surprised him, he noticed that their was quite a stashing of money and drugs on the second floor, he noted that there were two beds that lie there, which left Itachi to draw the conclusion that two people slept on the second floor. On the first floor, what Itachi found was much more sickening. He was told that these men were nothing more than thieves. What he saw forced him to recognize they were much more than that, they were despicable beings who deserved what was coming. On the first floor was a young woman, around the age of sixteen tied up with ropes on the ground. She had bruises covering her arms and face. This of course led Itachi to only conclusion, she was raped repeatedly. Noting the other things on the first floor, he saw another bed, with a small stash of money. Taking in all these things, he decided that he would enter the second floor in the opposite room where the two criminals were sleeping and quickly eliminate them, moving downstairs and killing the last man. If figuired if the woman awoke from him or saw him she might be alarmed and thus wake the people up, making things more difficult for him. All he had to do now was wait until nightfall.

The sun was just setting when Mikoto decided to take a breather, she had tired herself out quite a bit from all the physical conditioning she was doing. During her break she went over to Naruto and noticed he was almost at the top of the tree. He was making remarkable progress, especially for a jinchuriki. It was only a matter of time before he would successfully make it to the top. Luckily she already had something she wanted him to expand on with tree climbing. Deep in thought, she barely noticed the yelp when she looked up and noticed Naruto falling to the ground. Instincts kicking in, she rushed over and was able to catch him from hitting the ground. She set Naruto down when he looked up at her.

"Whoops" was all said, face red of embarrassment. Mikoto was barely able to stifle a giggle at his expense.

"Why don't you take a break with me, you've been going all afternoon," she said to Naruto. She didn't want to tell him to take a break, but having a moment to clear your mind is extremely beneficial.

Naruto wanted to argue, but the look on her face made him think that there really wasn't any room for argument, so he nodded and began to walk to their makeshift camp. He sat down on the ground while Mikoto prepared a fire to cook some food they had. Once the fire was set and the food was cooking, Naruto wanted to ask some questions about what his mother did for the day. He knew she was training but he didn't know why or what she was doing.

"Kaa-san, what are you doing for your training" he curiously asked his mother.

"I am doing some physical exercises. It has been a long time since I really put a lot of effort into training."

"Why do you train so hard kaa-san" he thoughtfully asked. She was already strong so why did he she keep going, it was something he did not fully understand.

"If I want to protect and guide you and Itachi-kun, then I need to be strong. Especially when we are always moving. The threats are always around us and we are never TRULY safe" she answered. She knew that Itachi is more than strong enough to take care of himself, but she also wanted to be able to match him at least, so that he wouldn't face the entire burden of being a missing ninja on himself. She felt it was her job as a mother to make sure of that.

Naruto didn't truly understand why she needed to be strong enough to do that, as he did not know about Itachi's missing ninja status. However he simply nodded and took the answer at face value.

"What am I going to do after I finish the tree climbing exercise" he decided to ask changing the subject, he felt it would take a darker turn if he kept asking questions about the subject.

Mikoto pondered a moment before responding " After you finish the exercise I want you to run up and down the tree as long as you can without touching the ground, as well as jumping around the branches. This will help your control as well as your agility" She knew that this would take time to perfect, however it would not only help his chakra control, but also his speed and endurance. These would prove extremely useful later in life.

Naruto paled at the thought. He was already exhausted from just running up the tree, let alone jump around on the branches and such. As he was thinking about this new training he would do, Mikoto pulled the food from the fire and prepared the meal. Finishing the fish and rice up, she passed some food to herself and they both began to eat, enjoying the silence after a long day of training. After finishing the meal, Naruto thanked his mother and immediately went back to training. Mikoto only smiled at the scene, happy that he had the determination to continue. Her thoughts wandered to Itachi before she went back to her own training.

Darkness had finally covered the village, the civilians were no longer in their streets, but in their own homes with their families. It was only a matter of time before he would move under the cover of darkness. All he had to do now was wait for the majority of people to be asleep. However he did not make waste of this time, continued to observe the house to note anything he did not account. Early he watched as three men entered the house to never exit. After roughly an hour, there were no lights that were on in the house. Itachi quickly jumped over rooftops making his way on top of his targeted building. Reading his chokuto, Itachi descended down the side of the building before making his way inside. He activated his sharingan and quickly observed the state of the room he was in. Noting their were absolute silence in the house, he made his way to the room with two bedrooms. Opening the door as silently as he could. He moved over to his targets, quickly slitting their throats, he moved his way downstairs. He saw the bonded women from earlier disrobed and asleep. Inside he was feeling angry, however his facial expression portrayed nothing, he was a shinobi and would not display emotions when working. He walked over to where the final man was supposed to be asleep, however when he was about to slit his throat, the man quickly stopped Itachi's wrist and went to stab him with a hidden kunai. Itachi although not prepared was able to react in time due to his sharingan and deflected the blade. A short struggle followed, the man was to close for Itachi to effectively use his chokuto, so his free hand was merely for deflecting punches that were thrown to him. After dodging a punch aimed to his face, he quickly kicked the man far enough away for Itachi to plunge his chokuto through the man's chest. Itachi watched as the life drained from his eyes, blood pooling on the ground as he died. Throughout the commotion the tied women had awakened and was petrified, here she thought this man was here to kill her. Noticing she was awake Itachi finally decided to speak while walking towards her.

"I am not going to hurt you, you are free to go" Itachi spoke in a calm fashion, trying to appease the women. It worked slightly as she nodded. Itachi walked up to her, and using a kunai, cut all the ropes binding her down. "Get come clothes from the dresser and leave" ordered Itachi, he had business to finish after all. She quickly nodded and got dressed, running out of the house. One she left, Itachi quickly sealed up the bodies and cash, leaving the drugs for the villagers to do whatever they wish with. Looking back at the house, Itachi felt somewhat good, knowing that he saved someone and rid the world of people like that, before descending into the night to return to his family.

It was roughly midnight when Itachi reached camp, where he quickly went to sleep.

The next morning Itachi was awaken by the sound of his mother and Naruto training. He wondered how far his brother had come in his training and observed. What he saw was rather impressive. His brother was running around branches upside down and occasionally jumping between trees. He was happy to see how he was progressing, without a doubt he would be a capable shinobi. Noting this, he began to walk over to his mother.

"Good morning kaa-san" he directed towards his mother.

"Did you find any missions" she responded shakily, being out of breath from her training.

"Not exactly, I found some criminals who were stealing from a town and rid of them and took the money. It was about five hundred thousand ryo."

"That is a good amount of money and will prove valuable, it means we won't need to take missions for a few weeks" his mother responded, thinking about what they should get now that they have the money for it.

"Yes it is a good amount, anyways, we should continue to The Land of Tea, no doubt after the last two days people might be looking for us," Itachi advised his mother, in which she agreed.

"Let's begin to pack up, I will get Naruto from training" she ordered of her eldest. She then walked towards the tree Naruto was perched up on.

"Naruto let's go, we are leaving" Mikoto yelled to her youngest son.

"Ok" he responded with a yell

Once Naruto climbed down they packed up their materials and continued to the Land of Tea. Now that Naruto has advanced in tree climbing, they could move much faster on trees towards their destination. Naruto noted how much faster this was and wanted to get even faster, to feel the wind in his hair as he jumped from branch to branch. It was refreshing.

The group had finally arrived to the Land of Tea as the sun was setting. Moving to the nearest village, the got a hotel and slept for night.

As Naruto and Itachi slept, Mikoto tried to think of a plan, she wanted Naruto to get strong sooner rather than later. She thought that they could stay in the land of tea for a few months while Naruto trained. She wanted to introduce him to water walking and shuriken jutsu. They were relatively basic skills and would prove to go far if mastered properly. Finalizing those thoughts, she closed her eyes and fell into the darkness of sleep.

It was early morning when they awoke. Mikoto decided to not waste any time and went to explain their time.

"Good morning boys" Mikoto said with a smile, she could easily get used to seeing her sons every morning. "I have a plan for the next few months of training" she paused a moment to get their attention " I want to train Naruto in waterwalking, as well as start shuriken jutsu, Once he has a good grasp of those I want to move on to teaching him the traditional Uchiha jutsu. Once that is done I think we should move to a new location. I have a place in mind that will allow us to train for quite some time without interruption, but will require some money to get their" Mikoto listed off to her sons, to which they both nodded. It seemed like a good plan to them.

"Well then let's eat and get started on training" she said with a sense of excitement. She loved training her son, it proved refreshing. He could only groan, it was to early for training he felt, but voiced none of his complaints. It was going to be a long few months.

-END Chapter-

So minor time skips will be ahead. Itachi will talk to his mother about where they will be going, which will be revealed next chapter. So while Naruto's training will jump around, we will see the things Itachi does and his perspective on the world. Also, I think you will like how Itachi meets his love interest :P  
As always, please leave feedback so I can improve my writing 3 :P


	5. Eyes Opened

Eyes Opened

The last month has proven very beneficial for our trio. Itachi has become a 'true' S rank nin in almost every sense. Despite the warnings from his mother, he did decide to learn some mangekyo abilities, such as tsukuyomi and amaterasu. While his kenjutsu and taijutsu are hardened from his time in ANBU, he did manage to his increase his speed, while also increasing his chakra reserves for ninjutsu. Rather than learning new techniques he mastered old ones. During this month Mikoto has brought herself to borderline S rank. She specializes in kenjutsu and genjutsu, incorporating her sharingan genjutsus into her swordplay to subtly out maneuver opponents. When it comes to these categories she is easily S rank, however her ninjutsu and taijutsu is roughly high A rank. She is rather proud of her accomplishments in the past month. While normally you could never improve that much in such a short time, she just needed to get back to her old self. Our final member of the trio, Naruto, has improved a large amount since training began. He has started and quickly learned shurikenjutsu on it's basic levels, while also mastering waterwalking. In doing this Mikoto and Itachi felt he was finally ready to learn the Uchiha signature jutsu, which leaves us to what he is doing now. Flipping quickly through hand seals, he breathes in a large amount of air, readying himself to exhale a great fireball, unfortunately only a small plume of fire exits his mouth.

"Ugh why can't I do this properly, I have been trying for days" Naruto ranted to himself, not noticing his brother watching nearby.

"It you must know little brother, you are using to much oxygen earlier than you need to. You should build up chakra in your lungs and exhale while using fire chakra at almost the same time. You're wasting a lot of oxygen in the beginning of your jutsu" Itachi responded to his brother, his brother was shocked he was heard, but complied to what he said.

Rapidly flipping through hand seals, remembering his brothers advice, **Katon: Fireball Jutsu ** runs through his mind, followed by an immediate car size fireball out of his mouth and into the surrounding air. The effect was immediate, the grass around him was singed, with a heavy steam off the lake in front of him. Instantly Naruto began jumping for success, happy that he was finally able to cast a proper fireball, however the celebration was short lived.

"Good job Naru-kun, but you need to make the fireball bigger and try to reduce the seals, it is far from perfect" spoke his mother in a matter of fact tone. While she hated pushing for perfection, she knew that mastering techniques roved extremely advantageous in fights. For instance, if you and an opponent were doing the same jutsu, but you did it in less hand seals, you would successfully get it done first, more than likely killing your opponent before he kills you.

Naruto's response to his mother's statement was to flip through hand seals again, attempting to reach perfection. Despite feeling somewhat saddened by what his mother said, he knew that her statement was only for his benefit. If he had to fall to exhaustion to attain perfection then he would do it.

"Tonight is the last night we are going to be here Naruto. We are heading out tomorrow morning to a new place to stay" informed Mikoto

"Where are we going?" asked Naruto

"We are heading to your mothers homeland, Uzushiogakure. There should be nobody there which would allow us to train you without being noticed by shinobi." responded Mikoto

"What is it like, couldn't there be any survivors there" questioned Naruto

"Unlikely, in the second shinobi world war Uzushiogakure was decimated, very few people made it out alive, and those that did would not want to return to their once great homeland" responded Mikoto sadly.

"Why would someone just decimate an entire land like that, what is the point. Sure the shinobi may be powerful but what about the men, women, and children who were just trying to live peacefully" asked Naruto. He did not understand why an entire group would be ultimately decimated without survivors.

"People were afraid of them, a proper sealmaster could make advanced traps and easily destroy groups of shinobi without any risks to themselves. This is the sole reason, despite being a peaceful nation, that they were decimated. Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure grouped up in a surprise attack to catch them off guard. Ultimately they lost the way because of this" reflected Mikoto. She knew that she ignored the history of Uzushiogakure in teachings because he felt he wasn't ready at the time to learn what happened to his people.

"That is stupid, they could have just ignored them. They weren't people to start conflict based off what you said. Everything could have been solved peacefully." stated Naruto, slightly upset about why his people who destroyed.

"That it is" said Mikoto "Once Itachi comes back with dinner we should pack up, we want to leave at sunrise, otherwise we will have to stop and camp in Hi no Kuni, which is not worth the risk"

"Yes kaa-san" responded Naruto.

This led to Naruto practicing the fireball jutsu for another two hours. He felt that if he wanted to appease his mother and brother that he would need to attain perfection as fast as he could. Just as he was about to flip through hand seals Itach had returned to camp. He started walking towards his brother when he collapsed. He had used so much energy practicing his jutsu he couldn't walk.

"What happened to you" questioned Itachi. He had a feeling his brother went overboard in training butt wanted to confirm his suspicion.

"I think I went overboard trying to perfect the fireball jutsu" responded Naruto

Itachi then walked over to his brother with a small smile on his face and picked him up. Normally Naruto would never accept being picked up and helped but he was simply too weak to protest.

"Good job otōto" proclaimed Itachi, proud of his brothers progress. Naruto could only nod his head at the praise.

"I am making your favorite Naruto-kun, miso ramen." stated Mikoto with a broad smile on her face. She knew that it would brighten her sons mood after a long day of tiring training.

"Are we going directly to Uzushiogakure or are we going to stop somewhere along the way" Itachi asked Mikoto. He was wondering if he would get an opportunity to attain a new chokuto.

"Yes, there is a small town on the border of Hi no Kuni that has good quality shinobi weapons, I plan on stopping their before making our trip." responded Mikoto.

"Good, I need a new chokuto." responded Itachi "Are you going to teach Naruto any sealing while in Uzushiogakure"

"Perhaps, however I am nowhere near proficient enough to teach him more than some basics. Maybe we will get lucky and fight some scrolls leftover from the war but I doubt it" claimed Mikoto. While she wished that her youngest son could pick up the lost art of sealing, she knew that it was unlikely with all the previous sealing masters dead.

"I see. Once we reach Uzushiogakure I will start teaching Naruto the Interceptor Fist taijutsu style. I have things to do however so I cannot stay fully for his training" voiced Itachi.

"What must you do" questioned Mikoto, she wondered what would have her son running off already

"We will discuss it another time kaa-san" replied Itachi. He didn't want Naruto to overhear the conversation he needed to have.

During their conversation Naruto simply observed what his family was saying while enjoying his miso ramen. He wished to know what his brother was doing but also knew that if he wasn't being told that it must be important. Finishing his ramen, Naruto stood up and packed up anything that they had used in the last month, readying himself for the travels tomorrow would bring.

The sun had not risen over the horizon when the trio stirred awake. They quickly finished packing sleeping gear and set off into the cool morning at a decent speed across the lush treetops. Itachi and Mikoto were on high alert, considering they would soon be passing through Hi no Kuni, if they were seen by any ANBU they would undoubtedly be pushed into a tricky situation. Unfortunately for them, fate would not be on their side in this instance.

It was about noon when they were approaching a small town in Hi no Kuni. They had been traveling in Hi no Kuni for a few hours without incident and decided to stop and eat some lunch before continuing their travels. The trio was in for a great surprise when the reached the border of the town and saw nothing but dead bodies everywhere. It was a total massacre. Quickly realizing that something drastic had happened, they decided to quickly make their way through town, rather than going around. This was mostly because they didn't want to spare time backtracking through Hi no Kuni increasing their chances of being seen.

While running through the town, they realized a weird substance around people and some buildings. A weird pink crystal was evident everywhere, which left Mikoto and Itachi with many questions. What could this possibly mean, they have never seen anything like this with any earth jutsu, which left only the possibility for a bloodline, however what bloodline could do such a thing? Remembering to discuss it later with each other, they were back into the forest and towards their destination. They however did not make it far.

"Halt, state your purpose for being in Hi no Kuni. You are currently heading from Takayama, what is your purpose for being there" stated a Konoha ANBU with an authoritative tone. Itachi and Mikoto blessed he didn't see through the genjutsu otherwise there would have been much bigger problems.

"We are currently passing through, we were going to stop for lunch however the entire town was massacred. We simply kept moving as we figured news of this would have already spread to Konoha" replied Mikoto

"Where are you heading, and where are you heading from" questioned the ANBU. He was suspicious about the group. Something was definitely off about them.

"We are heading to the coastal city Okayama, from the Land of Tea. We need some metal work done and we were told that is the best place for it" stated Mikoto calmly. She knew that appearing nervous would only add more questions and increase the risk of being discovered.

The Anbu pondered for a moment before releasing them, he knew that the villagers have been dead for a few hours and that they entered after the fact. However he also knew that he had to question everyone who passed through. He still felt off about them, and decided to spread the message to watch them. It wasn't his problem, he had evidence to collect and needed to continue searching the perimeter.

"That was close kaa-san. If he pursued questions any further we could have easily been discovered" stated Itachi, he wanted to avoid conflict with Konoha as much as possible for the time being.

"That it was, but I would assume he already knew we were innocent. He was just doing his job but asking us that." responded Mikoto. Itach simply nodded, coming to the same conclusion as well. He knew ANBU protocol afterall.

Naruto was rather distraught about what he had seen. Being only a child and seeing an entire village slaughtered was something that he would need to talk about later. He could not get the images out of his mind, especially the children that were his age. It was something that would surely give him nightmares in the nights to come.

They sun was just setting over the horizon when they entered a village. They had finally reached Okayama. The trio was extremely tired at this point, due to the incident earlier, they had not eaten since breakfast. Quickly ordering the weapons they needed, they set out to find some place to eat and sleep for the night. Finally setting up in bed Naruto decided to voice his questions towards his family.

"Kaa-san, nii-san, why did someone kill everyone in that village. Why would someone do that. It is not even a shinobi village." asked Naruto.

It was Itachi who decided to respond "We do not know Naruto-kun, it is just one of the many bad things that happen in this world due to evil people. Something that I hope to change" 'no matter the cost,' he added in afterthought.

"Then I will help you, seeing all those people dead is something I don't want to see again," said Naruto. The one thing he hated was seeing people who couldn't protect themselves nor do anything wrong, harmed or killed in gruesome ways.

"Well it's a good thing you will be training for some time, just so you know though, the road of achieving peace is paved in bloodshed. You will have to do bad things sometimes" advised Itachi

"Whatever it takes" sleepily responded Naruto. He wanted to keep talking to his brother but he was way to tired for that. He quickly drifted off to sleep, to awake in the morning.

'Don't be so sure Naruto-kun, innocent people will more than likely due to achieve peace. It is something that more than likely cannot be avoided' Itachi thought to himself

Remembering he needed to discuss something with Mikoto, he motioned for her to follow him where they walked outside.

"What did you want to talk about Itachi-kun" asked Mikoto to her eldest son..

"Once we get to Uzushiogakure, I will be leaving for a while. There are things I need to do and find out in the world. Also during my time in ANBU there was a rumor of a group of people hunting down biju, the reason is unknown however" stated Itachi

"Do you have to go for so long" asked Mikoto, while she knew her son could take care of himself, it didn't stop her from being worried about him.

"Yes, especially if that group actually exists, I need to see what their goals are in order to protect Naruto-kun" replied Itachi. "You will need to train him hard, if anything about what is happening in the world is an indicator" added Itachi, with diplomatic relations between Konoha, Kumo, and Iwa being at an all time low, and the blood-line issues in Kiri just starting, it seemed that only darkness was on the horizon.

"Don't worry about Naruto-kun, I will make him as strong as I can" replied Mikoto, while she couldn't help one son who would be venturing the world, she could certainly make sure her other son was more than capable of handling himself.

"I have no doubts kaa-san" claimed Itachi. He knew that his mother was very motivated to keep him safe.

"I only hope that we will have better times in the future" claimed Mikoto, worried about the possibilities of things that could happen.

"As do I, anyways we should call it a night, it will be quite tiring moving across the ocean tomorrow" proclaimed Itachi.

With their discussions being over, they decided that they would head to bed to continue their travels in the morning.

They had awoken early in the morning. They went out to a local breakfast joint in the morning before heading to the shinobi supplier to pick up their order, consisting of shuriken, kunai, three chokutos, two katanas, and outfits. This would hopefully last them a decent amount of time considering the money they spent on their orders. Picking up their order, which drained them of most the leftover money they had, they set off to Uzushiogakure. The trip across the ocean was rather difficult, at one point Itachi had to pick up Naruto as he was having trouble standing on water after a few hours, which wasn't a big deal for the prior ANBU captain. Finally having arrived on the island, they set up camp and decided to explore for the remainder of the afternoon.

The first thing they had noticed was all the destroyed buildings and skeletons in the area. This was somewhat disheartening for the trio, as all the people were killed for an unjust reason and simply left to rot in the salty ocean air. Naruto made a mental note to try to at least bury some of these people like they deserve. While Naruto was simply observing his surroundings, Mikoto was looking for something specific. Her mind was set on finding fuinjutsu scrolls, as well as anything else that might prove useful that rightfully belongs to Naruto, who might not realize it.

"This place is huge, I can only imagine what it looked like before its destruction" proclaimed Naruto. He was amazed at the size of the buildings, despite being destroyed were still huge and the different metals surrounding the buildings was intricate and stunning.

"It was one hell of a place, that's for sure" responded Mikoto, actually having seen what it looks like before.

"I wish I could have seen it beforehand, with all the people here" sullenly responded Naruto.

Mikoto could only nod to her sons saddened response, she knew that it was unfortunate seeing your old home destroyed like this, even if you never actually lived there. However she was also thinking of a possible way to show her son what Uzu used to look like, as well as some memories of his parents. Genjutsu was a useful tool for learning and killing.

They had explored for several hours before deciding to get ready to sleep until the morning. As they were eating Itachi decided to tell Naruto about his plans.

"Naruto-kun, I will be leaving for quite some time to venture the world, I will stop by when I can, however, Mikoto will be the one primarily responsible for your training." explained Itachi.

"Why are you venturing the world" questioned Naruto, he didn't want to lose his brother for a long period of time.

"In order to achieve peace I need to see how the world works across the elemental nations, something I cannot do through scrolls." replied Itachi

"Well I can only hope to be stronger next time I see you nii-san, eventually I hope to stand by you as an equal" proclaimed Naruto, full of determination. While it wasn't a personal goal to surpass his brother for selfish reasons, he wanted to be able to walk the road of life together without worrying about each other.

"I look forward to it omoto" replied Itachi with a smile on his face. He was excited to see how his brother would grow over the years.

With their discussion being over, the trio went to bed. Itachi would be leaving before the others wake up in order to save time. He needed to find answers on the mysterious group surrounding biju, as well as see how people view each other. Closing his thoughts Itachi blissfully fell into the darkness of sleep, to see through another day.

-END Chapter-

Notes : So that is the conclusion of the fifth chapter. It was supposed to be an eye opener for Naruto, while it seems simple at the time, i can assure you the experiences of these things will contribute to development later on. Also while Naruto will NOT be the focal point of the next few chapters, Itachi will be, things like Akatsuki, Kirigakure, Orochimaru, etc will all be shown in the next few chapters during Naruto's training. I hope you guys are enjoying so far and make sure to review for any advice. 3 3


	6. Akatsuki

Akatsuki

It has been six months since Naruto started his training and Itachi separated from his family. Naruto has improved greatly in the Interceptor Fist taijutsu style, while his shurikenjutsu is near perfect, thanks to the added learning ability with the sharingan. He is starting to learn kenjutsu and more basic ninjutsu. Itachi however has learned a great deal about the group hunting bijus. He found out they were called the 'Akatsuki,' a group consisting of nine S rank missing ninja, all of which are powerful in their own right. This leaves us to where we are currently, in a run down town on the border of Tsuchi no Kuni (Land of Earth)

and Oni no Kuni (Land of Demons.) He heard a rumor that they Akatsuki were spotted in the area. He wanted to find out more about the group and it's members, however he was not ready for what is to come.

Moving towards the collection office for a current bounty list, Itachi spotted them. Two men in black cloaks with red clouds. His luck must be extremely high for this to happen. He rapidly moves towards the two members, as he gets close he hears someone.

"Itachi Uchiha, S rank missing nin from Konohagakure, what can I do for you" came from the Akatsuki member in front of him.

"I want to know what your goals of the Akatsuki are" questioned Itachi

"I will answer that if you answer my question first" responded the man.

"What is your question" responded Itachi, on guard, he did not want to fight two S rank nin in his situation, it would not end well.

"Will you join us in the Akatsuki, it is not chance you found us. We have been looking for you for some time now. Someone with your status joining us would prove beneficial to our cause." asked the man.

Itachi pondered this for a few moments, on one hand, this group was hunting his little brother, which made them dangerous and people he did not like, however on the other, joining this group could ultimately allow him to protect his little brother from the inside. Finalizing this thoughts, he came to a decision.

"I accept" replied Itachi

"Good good, well then a more direct introduction should be done. I am Sasori, and my partner here is Diedera. Our goals in the Akatsuki our to use the biju for world peace. I do not know however the true approach to this, you would have to ask Pien-sama." stated the man now known as Sasori.

"Where do I meet him" replied Itachi, now nervous that they had a well established leader. If this man was able to keep 8 S ranked ninja together, he must be extremely powerful.

"You will follow us to the meeting place in Numa no Kuni (The Land of Swamps.) Here you will get the proper attire to be an official member, as well at meeting your teammate, who is also new to the Akatsuki." stated Sasori

"Who is this new member" questioned Itachi. He hoped it was someone that was powerful but not evil. Dealing with someone evil would make his time difficult.

"Orochimaru, the snake sannin, S rank missing nin from your village. I am sure you have heard of him" reponded Sasori

"Yes" stated Itachi blankly. Having Orochimaru as a partner would prove difficult. The man had a weird obsession with any sort of bloodline, which means he would always have to watch his back.

"Well let's go, I hate to be kept waiting" proclaimed Sasori

Their conversation now finished, they headed off to Numa no Kuni.

While Itachi and the other members of the Akatsuki were heading towards Numo no Kuni, Naruto and Mikoto were in the middle of a rather heated training session. Mikoto had finally started to allow Naruto to use the sharingan in taijutsu which advanced his skills greatly. Mikoto quickly throwing a punch aimed towards Naruto's jaw only to be blocked by his left arm, quickly shifting weight he gave a right kick aimed at her midsection only to be parried by her right arm, following up with a quick jab to the opening in his stomach, dropping him to the ground.

"You still have a long way to go Naruto-kun" teased Mikoto

"I will get one one day kaa-san, getting older is only helpful to one of us," replied Naruto in a teasing manner of his own.

"You know it's not very nice to talk to a woman about her age" replied Mikoto while putting him into a headlock. Naruto quickly apologized and got back up.

"Your hand movements have improved greatly, however your kicks are still not done properly and the strength behind them aren't as powerful as they should be" claimed Mikoto in a scholarly fashion.

She then proceeded to correct his stance in this particular kata. She knew that she was pushing him very hard and rather quickly, but she needed to if what Itachi had told her was anything close to the truth.

"How are you coming in the jutsu I taught you" asked Mikoto, referring to the kawarimi, bushin, and henge.

"I have got the kawarimi and henge to two hand seals, but I cannot do a bunshin at all" answered Naruto, he was greatly upset that despite all efforts he could not mastern a single bushin. His chakra control exercises proving useless.

Mikoto started to ponder his bushin problem and quickly came to the conclusion that due to his jinchuriki status that he would more than likely never be able to successfully be able to do the bunshin.

"I don't think you'll ever be able to do a bunshin Naruto-kun, I will show you an alternative soon" stated Mikoto

"In the meantime, why don't you come here and we will test your elemental affinities" ordered Mikoto

Naruto walked over to his mother quickly, wondering how they would find out his elemental affinities. It was something he had been wondering a while, considering he knew all about the elemental affinities but not how to actually find out about them. He saw his mother pull out what appeared to be a piece of dark paper and wondered how that would help him find his affinity.

"This paper in my hand is special paper, chakra paper, and by channeling some chakra through it it will show you your chakra affinity. If the paper splits is means futon, if it becomes wet it means suiton, turning to ash refers to katon, when it wrinkles it means raiton, and finally if it turns to dirt it means doton.

Naruto did as he was told and channeled chakra into the paper. Half the paper immediately caught into flames, while the other half wrinkled up. Suddenly the paper slightly tore down the center, surprising Mikoto greatly.

'Three chakra affinities' she gasped to herself

"Wow Naruto-kun, three chakra affinities, although your alignment to wind is extremely minor. Perhaps with practice you will able to do it easier." stated Mikoto

"I didn't think it was possible to have more than one affinitiy unless you had a kekkei genkai." asked Naruto

"While uncommon it is not impossible, usually it happens if your parents have extremely strong affinities." replied Mikoto. 'I wonder if it will be possible for him to use shakuton' pondered Mikoto. She knew that it was extremely unlikely but perhaps possible. It had been theorized for generations if someone with enough elemental control could recreate them without the bloodline.

"What affinity will we focus on for now" questioned Naruto, accepting his mother's answer to his previous question

"We will focus and katon and raiton, I am not that advanced in futon so we shall focus on it last" replied Mikoto, hoping that when Itachi visits he can help out with some futon. Due to his time in ANBU he surely picked up a few things.

"Well let's get started" yelled Naruto, excited about continuing his training.

It would be a long and tedious process training three affinities, but it would be very worth it for the young jinchuriki in the long run.

It had been just under two days since Itachi left with the Akatsuki to rendezvous with the other members when they arrived at the hidden base. It was surprisingly hard to find without knowing anything aside the nation it resides in. It was buried underground, with several layers of genjutsu to force people away from the encampment without releasing it. When finally entering the main ground, Itachi noticed multiple people from the bingo book, all being S rank. Most notably he recognized Hidan of Yukigakure and Orochimaru of Konohagakure. The most surprising thing Itachi noticed was the projection of the man in the center of everyone. He did not recognize who he was, but his eyes were clear as day, with only one thing running through his mind. 'Rinnegan.'

"I trust your journey here was uneventful Sasori" questioned the mysterious man in the middle

"That it was Pien-sama" replied Sasori

"I see you found Itachi Uchiha" stated Pien "Itachi Uchiha, It is good to see another join our cause for peace. You will find the Akatsuki cloak in the back of the base, however you will need to get your ring from Orochimaru. It is required for the sealing of the biju." stated Pien.

"Understood" responded Itachi, he knew not what the rings entire purpose was but asked no questions.

"With that, Orochimaru has your current mission. That is all" annonced Pain before his projection disappeared.

"Is there any other purpose of the ring asides from sealing" questioned Itachi to the three people around him.

"Yes, it allows us to project ourselves to meet and discuss missions, it is important so do not ever lose it or take it off" responded Sasori

With his question answered he walked to the back of the base to get his Akatsuki robe before joining Orochimaru to get is ring and discuss their mission. While he was not looking forward to working with Orochimaru, he could tell just by looking at him that he was greatly looking forward to working with someone who possessed the sharingan.

"Well if it isn't Itachi Uchiha, the clan killer from Konohagakure, and to think someone else with power could betray that weak and pitiful village" declared Orochimaru

"Yes, however our reasons for betraying are very different Orochimaru. I killed half of my clan because they thought they were powerful but they were nothing more than cannon fodder" stated Itachi. While he hated talking about his clan like that, he knew that if he said he had a valid reason to protect Konoha, it would only make working with the snake sannin more difficult.

His statement only brought an evil smile to Orochimaru's snake lips, a happy aura surrounding him.

"What is our mission from Pien" questioned Itachi

"We are to assassinate lightning daimyo, it will bring us a lot of money." responded Orochimaru

"Let's not waste time then" replied Itachi in his typical stoic fashion. While around these people in the Akatsuki he would never show any emotion.

The dynamic Akatsuki duo from Konoha quickly made their way towards Kaminari no Kuni (Lightning Country.) Luckily for Itachi, Orochimaru moved much faster compared to Sasori, thus allowing them to reach Kaminari no Kuni much faster. They had been traveling for roughly four hours before stopping to rest a moment. They would briefly be traveling through Hi no Kuni and thus would not be allowed any rests. During this time Itachi summoned a crow to send information to his mother. Orochimaru was oblivious to this. Itachi then took out a scroll he had hidden in his cloak and unsealed some pocky. Quickly eaten his sweets he directed to his partner he was ready to go, he didn't see what Orochimaru ate and quite frankly he didn't want to find out either.

Itachi and Orochimaru had been traveling for the better part of the afternoon when they reached the border of Kaminari no Kuni. All they needed to do now was wait until nightfall before moving in to accomplish this mission. Itachi was quite ok with going through with the assassination, for the lightning daimyo was responsible for many despicable actions, such as rape, crime rings, and his own assassinations.

"How to you want to proceed Orochimaru" asked Itachi

"No survivors" replied Orochimaru. He simply wanted to take life for it's something he enjoyed.

"You enjoy that, the lightning daimyo is mine however" proclaimed Itachi. He had no problems with his partner killing others, but he didn't want to stain his hands like that again.

They finally reached the capital city when they scoped out the building the daimyo was in. They decided they would split up, Itachi would enter from the roof while Orochimaru would wait until Itachi begins before moving on the first floor and slaughtering everyone. This was the most tactical way to proceed. Those moving away from Itachi to get outside and away to safety would run into the open arms of Orochimaru before getting slaughtered.

Quickly making his way onto the rooftop, Itachi surveyed his surroundings, taking note of all the possible exits. While Orochimaru wanted to kill everyone who tried to flee, Itachi was going to try to save others who weren't his target, especially if there was any children inside.

There was a half moon outside, hidden by the clouds. This was the perfect opportunity to make his way in and out without attracting any attention. He quickly made his way through the open window on the top floor and started searching through the empty halls in the daimyo mansion. He had yet seen any guards which was surprising to the young Uchiha, he has been inside the fire daimyo mansion a few times and there was always guards around. Due to this Itachi was on full alarm, not wanting to take any risks. Finally after making his way down a level, he found two guards standing in front of a door. His sharingan was already flared when he forced the two into a forced sleep genjutsu. Quickly moving Itachi caught both bodies before they hit the floor alerting anyone to his presence.

Opening the door to the guarded room Itachi found what he was not expecting, he found the lightning daimyo, however he was already dead from what Itachi could tell. It looked as if he ingested a poison, Itachi decided he would make sure he was dead for the complete mission. Moving over to the man he quickly unsheathed a kunai from his holster and slit his throat, confirming his identity and moving back outside to Orochimaru.

"Where is all the noise Itachi" questioned Orochimaru

"He was already dead when I found him, more than likely due to an ingested poison." responded Itachi, "We should consider leaving, we don't know if there is a trail from the other assassin for Kumogakure shinobi to be brought to us," he continued.

"I could use some bloodshed" stated Orochimaru, licking his lips to the fun he could have slaughtering shinobi beneath him.

"While it would be worthwhile to test our skills in battle, we don't want too much attention brought to the Akatsuki" responded Itachi. He refused to let Orochimaru lead him into pointless battles that serve no purpose other than serving to quench his bloodlust.

As if Orochimaru was fated from the gods, shortly after their conversation they sensed a squad of twelve shinobi moving towards their location. Quickly preparing themselves for combat, Itachi had his hand on his chokuto ready for action with his sharingan ablaze in the moonlight. Meanwhile Orochimaru simply smiled and stood without a care in the world.

The Kumogakure shinobi quickly entered the opening the Akatsuki members resided in, swords and kunais drawn for combat.

"What are you doing outside the lightning capital" questioned the ANBU in the front, presumably the commander.

"We were simply traveling through the area" responded Itachi

"He is lying, we just killed the lightning daimyo" stated Orochimaru bluntly, he maintained a passive posture however his face showed pure enjoyment. Due to Orocimaru's outburst of thought, Itachi seethed to himself, wondering how he could kill Orochimaru at some point.

The Kumogakure shinobi said no further statements and quickly moved to attack the two rogue shinobi in front of them. T

The three ninja directly in front of them quickly threw kunai towards Itachi and Orochimaru, which were immediately deflected by Itachi due to his sharingan.

Itachi quickly flipped through a series of hand seals **Katon : Great Fireball Jutsu**, spewing a massive fireball out his mouth, quickly enveloping the three shinobi ending their lives.

Quickly turning around he blocks a sword slash from the Kumogakure shinobi with his chokuto and immediately moves to counter, parrying the next slash while cutting his arm with a held kunai in his opposite hand. Angered, the enemy shinobi tries to jab an 'opening' in Itachi's abdomen, which he quickly reflected, expecting the attack, before throwing the kunai from his left and into the chest of the shinobi, ending his life.

With four of the twelve shinobi dead, the remaining Kumogakure shinobi surrounded the two Akatsuki members wanting to finish the fight. Itachi prepares for battle while Orocimaru simply continues to observe. While he appeared to want to slaughter the opposition, he really wanted to gather information on Itachi's fighting style for future reference. (A/N for his body ;] )

The Kumo shinobi quickly, in sync, flipped through a series of hand seals

**Raiton : Lightning Ball **the shinobi called out finalizing their attack, unfortunately for them Itachi's sharingan could not be bested by such a simple jutsu.

**Futon : Barrier **cried out Itachi, creating a type of defensive wind wall around them, neutralizing all the lightning attacks and damaging the original casters.

The Kumo shinobi were greatly unprepared for what Itachi did, in their lapse of concentration Itachi quickly threw ninja-wire shuriken in every direction, immediately after flipping through hand seals **Katon : Phoenix Fire Jutsu**, spewing fireballs in every direction along the ninja wire eliminating all the remaining shinobi, leaving nothing but smoldering corpses behind.

"Why did you just stand there" questioned Itachi angrily, we was not happy Orochimaru blew their cover and then stood there in the fight doing nothing.'

"I needed to test my partners skills, I cannot have a weak partner" stated the snake sannin bluntly 'or a weak vessel' he added in afterthought.

"You wasted our time and could have possibly alerted more shinobi would undoubtedly report this to the Raikage." responded Itachi

"You worry too much Itachi, but let's move. We need to report the mission to Pien-sama" replied Orochimaru.

While Orochimaru was happy to see a potential vessel's power, Itachi was extremely angry. While he didn't care about the attention brought to the Akatsuki or himself, he did not want people to find his relationship to Naruto and Mikoto and attack them. Orochimaru however did not need to know that.

With a mission complete, the duo quickly moved out of the lightning capital area and headed towards Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost.)

The duo arrived at the border of Shimo no Kuni in roughly half a day travel. Quickly finding a secluded area Orochimaru prepared to report to Pein.

"How do use the rings Orochimaru" questioned Itachi

"Simply use your sharingan to copy my jutsu, the ring will do the rest" he replied

Doing as he was told, Itachi copied Orochimaru's hand seals before they both stated at the same time **Ninpo : Magic Lantern Body Technique **

Itachi was disoriented as he found himself suddenly staring at a pair of rinnegan eyes.

"I trust your mission was correct" questioned the mysterious man known as 'Pien.'

"Correct" replied Itachi, he felt no need to inform their leader someone else assassinated their target. It was of no concern after all.

"Good, I will notify you when I have another mission" stated Pien before Itachi found himself looking where he was before the jutsu, disoriented from the whole ordeal.

"What shall we do now" Itachi asked his partner

"I have things to do in Oto no Kuni (Land of Sound.) You are free to do whatever you want until we are called" replied the evil sannin.

"We will meet again" responded Itachi, readying himself to visit his family

With their words finished, the duo separated heading in opposite directions. Itachi was happy to be able to visit his family however he needed to make sure he wasn't being followed. He did not trust Orochimaru in the slightest.

Itachi had been traveling for roughly two days before reaching the ocean to get to Uzushiogakure. He could have made it faster however he made absolutely sure that he wasn't being tailed. He quickly increased his pace excited to see his family after some time away.

Naruto and Mikoto were currently eating lunch when she felt an incoming presence. She quickly readied herself before recognizing it was her son, immediately relaxing herself.

Itachi quickly appeared in front of his family, immediately finding himself in a group hug between his mother and brother

"Itachi nii-san you're back" exclaimed Naruto happily

"Yes I had many things to do" responded Itachi with a smile on his face, still happy that Naruto considered him an older brother.

"What were you up do" questioned Mikoto, somewhat worried about what her son has been doing while away.

"I met up with an organization and did a mission" responded Itachi, Mikoto immediately understood what he was referencing and decided to not anymore questions for the time being.

"How has your training been going Naruto-kun" asked Itachi to his younger brother.

"It has been going good, I think. It is a lot of effort but I think I am getting much better" stated Naruto

"That is good to hear, perhaps we can have a spar tomorrow to see how far you have come," replied Itachi, excited to see how far his brother has come in the time he has been gone, despite being only a few months.

The family continued to talk about how they have been and what they have learned in the last six months. Itachi explained the different nations he has been to, and while avoiding hs mission details, he was happy to explain to the beauty of the world he had seen to his family.

Naruto had just gone to bed when Mikoto and Itachi discussed the reality of what Itachi was doing while he was gone.

"I have infiltrated the Akatsuki and am a member, this way I can keep Naruto safe from the inside" stated Itachi towards his mother

"How dangerous is it, what can you tell me about the members." questioned Mikoto

"I have not seen all their members, however Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand,) Deidara of Iwa, and my partner, Orochimaru the snake sannin." replied Itachi. Hearing about Orochimaru being Itachi's partner immediately put Mikoto on edge

"You have to be careful around Orochimaru, he was always close to the Uchiha district observing in his free time." stated Mikoto in a motherly fashion

"I am aware, I will also say that the leader is very mysterious, he goes by an alias, Pien, and that is not all, he wields the rinnegan" replied Itachi, pausing before continuing, "I will continue to do their missions and learn more about other members and their ultimate goals, although they claim everything to be in the name of peace"

"Just be careful and don't be afraid to get away if you endanger your life Itachi, Kami forbid Naruto or I found out something happens to you" replied Mikoto with a sullen tone.

"That I will" proclaimed Itachi, while he had no intention of running, he needed to appease his mother in this situation, as she could be very… very scary.

They finished their conversation off in a somewhat depressing tone before heading to bed, looking forward to seeing Naruto's progress tomorrow.

Elsewhere

"Did you find anything" questioned a man of the shadows of a rundown building.

"No, he managed to elude me" responded the man

"What a shame" replied the man, exiting the shadows. Revealing himself.

"Apologies Orochimaru-sama, I will find him next time" proclaimed his servant before exiting the building.

-END Chapter-

Thanks for reading, and as always please review so I can understand what to improve. Thank you 3


	7. Traitor

Traitor

The fog was thick. Hands invisible to your own eye to the heavy mist, rain pouring off the leaves. A peaceful atmosphere, if it wasn't for the sense of an incoming battle.

Itachi and Orochimaru were tasked with their hardest mission yet over the last year. To capture the Yondaime Mizukage, alive. The bait was set, the only thing missing was the jinchuriki.

They had waited for what seemed like hours until a silhouette appeared in the mist. He had finally arrived to rid the trash that was the Akatsuki. The mist quickly disappeared, due to the suiton control of the Mizukage. Leaving Yagura alone, no longer covered by a veil of mist.

"Oh my, he is as short as they say" proclaimed Orochimaru, hoping to get a rise out of the short kage.

The man, now known as the Mizukage gave no response and simply observed the people in front of him, waiting to make a move.

"You will be coming with us, one way or another" stated Itachi

"Why would I want to do that" replied Yagura, his voice completely monotone. These two had the audacity to enter his country and slaughter his forces. Now they wanted him to simply obey like a dog? He was going to make their deaths very, very painful.

"The alternative is to leave your short body broken, barely alive, and drag you to where we want to go" replied Orochimaru. He was enjoying taunting the kage. It was good practice for what he would do Hiruzen.

The Mizukage changed his stance, he was now fully ready for combat.

"You can try" stated the Mizukage "but you will fail," he continued. 'They must be trying to get the Sanbi, why else would they want me alive. I can't let them take him' he thought to himself

Quickly flipping through hand seals the Yagura began preparing a jutsu that would be beneficial to him.

**Suiton : Tsunami **he cried out, immediately the water began to condense around him, forming a large wave around him, eagerly waiting to lash out directly in front of him. All the water from the leaves and grass from the previous rainfall was now gone, now being manipulated by the prowess of Yagura. After what seemed like an eternity, being only 10 seconds, the wave moved forward at an incredible speed, ripping up trees and carving it's path of destruction in the dirt.

Quickly realizing the danger they were in, Orochimaru quickly prepared a ninjutsu. It was his trump card in any massive jutsu, especially from a jinchuriki. He did however expect to need it this early. Ending the sequence, slamming his hands on the ground he loudly cried out.

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu : Rashomon** , a humongous wall made of some type of metal rose from the ground at an equally astonishing speed. Acting as a massive shield to the two Akatsuki members.

The wave approached the massive barrier, the two members dressed in red clouds were tense, hoping the wall would hold without fail, they did not have another escape from this jutsu.

The tsunami clashed violently against the Rashomon, the pressure was immense, causing the structing to be pushed back a few yards before halting. The water whipped around the edges of the wall with extreme pressure, spreading the carnage of the earth even further than they thought possible. Despite all the destruction around them, Itachi and Orochimaru remained safe, despite being soaked.

"Quick thinking Orochimaru" stated Itachi, while he hated to admit it, without Orochimaru he would have had to used his mangekyo sharingan, and he was not wanting to tempt fate.

"My my Itachi-kun, is that a compliment, I didn't think could say such a thing" replied Orochimaru with a smirk. This was quite an upstep compared to the normal stoic Uchiha.

Itachi merely looked forward as the wall descended back to where it was summoned from. Ready to engage the Mizukage in whatever combat would be needed. He anticipated that Yagura would be somewhat winded after an attack like that, however upon a gaze he noticed that was far from the truth. He looked as calm as ever.

"So it appears you survived, no matter. You will not leave the fight alive" stated Yagura.

Not in the mood for discussion, Itachi quickly flipped through hand seals.

**Katon : Fireball Jutsu**, he cried out. A massive fireball the size of the hokage tower in Konohagakure flew out of his mouth, creating steam from the water left by the Tsunami, straight towards the Mizukage.

Yagura quickly responded **Suiton : Water Bullet Jutsu**, an equally sizable glob of water flew directly towards the fireball from hell, intercepting creating a large pressure wave to expand from the impact, turning all the water to steam. The battlefield became covered in an immense shower of steam and hot water. Quickly disappearing they both stared at each other, not noticing any difference in terms of fatigue.

They both realized this fight was not going to be as easy as they had hoped, causing Itachi and Yagura to quickly flip through hand seals, Itachi quickly going for the traditional katon style, while Yagura was going for a jutsu more favored in his hidden mist village.

**Katon : Great Hydra Jutsu / Suiton : Dragon Bullet Jutsu **cried both men simultaneously

A massive dragon with three heads, made entirely of fire, flew from Itachi's mouth directly towards Yagura, as if they were alive the heads were smiling. The fire attack was massive, easily dwarfing the previous fireball in comparing. At the same time, water condensed around the Mizukage and a massive water dragon formed around him, launching itself to intercept it's fire each other out like the previous techniques used,

'What a fool, using fire jutsu against me' thought Yagura.

'Fire isn't going to work, I need to change tactics' thought Itachi, ready to use his Mangekyou Sharingan.

Orochimaru simply observed the current engagement, his thoughts aligning themselves with the two shinobi in front of him. Deciding to finally entertain himself, he flipped through hand seals.

**Raiton : Spear of the Thunder God **Orochimaru cried out, this was his best lightning technique. He hoped that with the water surrounding the Mizukage he would undoubtedly get shocked quite badly by this jutsu even if it missed. A massive sound could be heard overheard, as if the gods themselves were roaring. A massive blinding light followed by a monstrous sound could be heard overhead. As if it could get any worse, a massive spear of lightning descended upon the mizukage at great speeds, he barely had time to move at all from his original position before it struck the ground, turning the dirt in the closest vaninity to glass, leaving the surrounding soil charred and steaming. Despite moving out of the way, the Mizukage was seemingly knocked unconscious due to high amounts of electricity that flowed through him. Itachi was also injured from the encounter, although due to the distance he was still standing.

"Damnit Orochimaru, some warning next time" stated Itachi in a barely audible voice.

"What is the fun in that" replied Orochimaru cooly. He enjoyed seeing Itachi like it, perhaps it was time to cut ties with the Akatsuki and take Itachi after this mission. 'Ah yes a splendid idea indeed' he thought to himself

Itachi merely grunted in return, his anger evident on his face.

Just as they were about to move to collect the Mizukage, a red clock made of chakra erupted around Yagura. Not in the mood for any games, Itachi quickly readied his eyes, swirling from three tomoes into a shuriken.

**Tsukoyomi **stated Itachi, it was the last thing Yagura heard before his world went black.

Itachi quickly tortured and destroyed Yagura's mind, leaving him unconscious on the earth, in an almost peaceful manner, completely contradictory to the fight that had just occurred. They proceeded to pick up Yagura and began walking away before they both heard a swirling sound. They turned around and were surprised to see a man in an orange mask with his sharingan ablaze. The next thing they noticed was his Akatsuki robe, immediately silencing the alarm either of them had.

"Leave Yagura, I have plans for him" the masked man ordered.

"Who are you?" questioned Orochimaru

"No one of consequence" responded the man

"We were ordered from Pien-sama to take him to the hideout" replied Itachi, not in the mood to make enemies of a Rinnegan wielder.

"I have already discussed it with Pien, he knows what the new plan is, he should be contacting you shortly" replied the masked man

As if on cue the rings pulsed, and they were staring into the calm eyes of Nagato.

"You will give Yagura to Tobi, we have plans for him that will make our lives easier" ordered Pien.

"Yes Pien-sama" they both chorused

When they returned to their bodies they quickly handed over to Yagura to Tobi, unknowing of his plans and the bloodshed that would follow, or the opportunity to acquire bloodlines. The masked man simply picked up Yagura and swirled away into nothing.

"What a waste of time" stated Itachi

"Not entirely, we did finally get to have some good combat. Who was that mystery member as well, I have not seen him before" replied Orochimaru.

"A good question, perhaps to be answered at another time" replied Itachi, he just wanted to go home and see his family. It had been some time since he had seen his brothers progress.

`I wonder if he is above Pien, a puppet master' theorized Itachi to himself. Little did he know he had hit a bullseye with his guess.

_**Flashback**_

"Are you ready for our spar Naruto-kun" questioned Itachi

"You bet nii-san" replied his brother, his voice filled with excitement

Mikoto meanwhile smiled at her sons, she would be the acting proctor for the match. He was happy to see them sparing in a friendly manner.

"Are you boys ready" questioned Mikoto

"Yes" they both curoused.

"Well then, Hijame" yelled Mikoto

The second Mikoto started the match, Naruto immediately flung three kunai. One directly towards Itachi while the other two flanked on either side, hoping to catch him when he moved to dodge one. However instead of doding the kunai, Itachi quickly pulled out a single kunai and deflected the one immediately in front of him, before throwing his own kunai at his little brother. Naruto recognizing the danger immediately dodged to the left before pulling out another kunai and moving towards his brother to engage in taijutsu.

The kunai in Naruto's right hand immediately clashed with Itachi's kunai being held in the opposite hand, as resounding 'clang' could be heard throughout the clearing.

Naruto immediately went for a punch with his left hand towards Itachi's abdomen, which was blocked by Itachi. Quickly following up Itachi kicked Naruto in the stomach, creating distance from each other.

Naruto quickly got off the ground, and began to fling threw hand seals

**Katon : Fireball Jutsu ** Naruto cried out, sending a fireball towards Itachi.

'Impressive, to have power in that jutsu at such an age, incredible. Although I bet it's because of his chakra size' Itachi thought to himself

Following suit, Itachi quickly flung threw his own seals before calling out the same jutsu, sending an exact duplicate of the one Naruto launched seconds before. They clashed in the middle of them, sending a plume of fire and smoke into the sky.

As the smoke cleared Itachi noticed something different. Rather than the normal eyes his brother had, he was staring into the red eyes of the sharingan.

Itachi inwardly smirked, happy to see his brother with the sharingan activated.

'Good to see he is taking this fight serious' he thought to himself 'I won't activate mine for now, I want to see how he responds.'

"You will need more than the sharingan to beat me Naruto" stated Itachi cooly, seeing how his brother's emotional control was in the heat of battle.

"I know, but I need every tool available to even stand a chance against someone as strong as you" replied Naruto with a smile on his face. He wasn't foolish, he knew he was no match for his brother at the moment, and he likely wouldn't be for years to come, that didn't mean that we wouldn't spar his brother though.

As if an unseen force, both brothers ran towards each other at the same time, exchanging punches and kicks. Itachi was surprised when he felt a punch to him stomach but his face showed nothing. Itachi decided to take it up a notch and increased his speed, forcing Naruto to go on the defensive. He handled himself at first, however after a few moments he quickly lost his pace and caught a fist with his face, flying backwards into the brush. Itachi thought that would be the end of the spar, however before he could check on his brother he heard the sound of a jutsu being prepared.

**Katon : Phoenix Fire Jutsu**, five small fireballs quickly headed towards Itachi and his surrounding areas of escape, realizing this predicament, Itachi found an easy way out of the jutsu and a way to disable his brother in one quick move.

**Doton : Hiding like a Mole **Itachi sounded off, disappearing into the dirt, which the fireballs flew harmlessly over. Naruto was looking around for Itachi before he felt the cold steel on his neck.

"You lose Omoto, however it was a good spar, you sure have come a long way in such a little time" stated Itachi

"You really think so" asked Naruto

"Yes, six months ago you wouldn't have even lasted ten seconds at that level of combat, I am impressed." replied Itachi, however he didn't need to feed his ego and continued "However, you still have a long way to go before you can fight me on equal ground."

Naruto nodded "One day we will stand together as equals nii-san, we have the same goals after all." replied Naruto

Itachi merely smiled "I look forward to it"

Mikoto was inwardly giddish at the scene, however outwardly she only had a megawatt smile and ran over to hug her boys. She was extremely happy with her decision to take Naruto with her and Itachi.

They continued to discuss his strengths and weaknesses and what he needed to improve on in the future.

_**End Flashback**_

Itachi inwardly smiled at the scene, it had been roughly a year since he had last seen his family. He hoped they were doing alright. Sighing, he continued to the destination with Orochimaru. He had a bad feeling from his partner right now and refused to put his guard down.

They had been traveling for roughly a day when they arrived at the hideout.

Orochimaru had a very malevolent aura surrounding him, continuously glancing at Itachi, as if it were finalizing a scheme he had been plotting for quite some time. As Itachi and Orochimaru started walking up the steps Orochimaru abruptly stopped and faced Itachi.

"I have waited quite some time for this Itachi" stated Orochimaru

"What do you mean" questioned Itachi, activating his sharingan.

"Have you heard of eternal life" he paused before continuing, "I'm not sure entirely myself, however with your magnificent body I will be a step closer" stated Orochimaru.

Orochimaru then attempted to wrap snakes around Itachi, ready to steal his body, however before he could react he had wrapped himself with his summons.

'What is this, a genjutsu' "What incredible visual prowess" stated Orochimaru

"Your biggest problem is your greed" stated Itachi

Orochimaru went to start a fire jutsu, unfortunately before he could react his hand was sliced clean off by Itachi

"You can try any jutsu you wish Orochimaru, but before my eyes they are useless" stated Itachi "I am uncertain if I should have a use for you in the future, or simply end your pathetic life now. Someone with such little regard for human life has no right to live" continued Itachi. Quickly he went for the killing blow to Orochimaru, however before he could thrust his kunai threw the traitors chest he was intercepted by a mysterious young man with glasses.

"Perhaps you can kill him another time" stated the mystery man before being reverse summoned elsewhere.

Itachi noted the man and recognized him almost immediately, he had seen this man in different villages while he was away from his 'partner.' Itachi then continued towards the Akatsuki hideout to report the traitor to the other members, they would not be happy.

Itachi had entered the hideout and noticed how everyone appeared to be waiting for him, it was slightly nerve racking being the center of attention between so many S rank criminals.

"What took you so long Itachi, and where is Orochimaru" questioned Pien

"Orochimaru decided he no longer wanted part of the 'Akatsuki' and we had a minor skirmish before another friend of his joined in. He slipped away. He was trying to capture my body for some sort of 'eternal life.'" responded Itachi

"Interesting, we will deal with him later. He will die for his betrayal, going before a god." stated Pien "In the meantime Itachi I will find you another partner, I have been looking to add someone for quite some time. For now you can do whatever it is you do while not on mission" continued Pien

"What tailed beast are we going after now" questioned Akasuna no Sasori, he wanted to add more puppets to his growing collection.

"For no we remain silent, continue hunting bounties. In two years we will begin our hunt, due to the bloodline purges we should be able to acquire the three tails easily when the time comes. We still need to find the jinchurikis of the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Gonbi, Rokubi, Yonbi, and the Nibi. The Kyuubi will be the hardest, the rumor is that he has been missing from his village for quite some time" responded Pien.

"I want to kill some shit" stated Hidan is an unusually cheerful manner. Most likely due to thinking about sacrificing some poor souls to Jashin.

"In due time Hidan, no be silent" ordered Pien

"That is all, you may leave" stated Pien before his hologram disappeared from view.

Itachi wondered who would be sent to deal with the Kyuubi. He hoped it was him. He also needed to meet Pien in person, to hypothetically discuss what would happen if a jinchuuriki wanted to join the organization. If Naruto gained control over the Kyuubi and was my partner in the Akatsuki we could easily perform a coup of power and achieve peace. Thinking to himself of the possibilities that could happen, he set off to meet his family for the first time in a little over a year. He hoped Naruto would perform better than last time.

-END Chapter-

Notes:

Ok, so that Orochimaru being a traitor scene was one of my favorites from the anime, so I had to incorporate it in some way. Ultimately Orochimaru was going to be a traitor for the same reason anyways, so I went about it similarly.

Next chapter will be entirely Naruto/Mikoto/Itachi centric, primarily learning and they take a learning trip!

Itachi's new partner will also be introduced :)

As always PLEASE PLEASE review for constructive criticism. I am writing this without a beta, and as a first story so please anything would be great. Thanks a lot guys :D


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